Antifungal activity in triterpene glycosides from the sea cucumber Actinopyga lecanora

Bioassay-guided fractionation of methanol extract of sea cucumber Actinopyga lecanora led to the isolation of a new triterpene glycoside (1), along with two known glycosides holothurin B (3) and holothurin A (4). The structure has been elucidated on the basis of extensive 2D NMR spectroscopic analysis. The saponin (3) showed in vitro antifungal activity against all the twenty fungal test isolates including ATCC strain and was found to be most effective against Trychophyton mentagrophytes and Sporothrix schenckii, MIC range of 1.56 μg/ml.